🍀 March-ing through backlist

Patrick McGrath, nonfic, some old faves

Not to toot my own horn, but March was a fun month over here on the RONAREADer. I appreciate the opportunity to share new genres, old favorites, and backlist beauties with all of you.

We got major super deep—we explored which books made us the readers we are today. We introduced Patrick McGrath, a backlist author with a modern gothic oeuvre. We also bullied readers who aren’t reading nonfiction to finally start! It doesn’t have to be boring textbook reading, and we hope our tips will help more readers explore that genre if they haven’t already.

Full disclosure, we haven't been reading as much lately. We’re preparing for a really busy summer (more on that in the coming months!) and being so busy means we just haven’t had the same amount of reading time. We’ve talked about this before because not reading makes Fez and me grumpy grouches. It’s how we reset and rest at the end of every day.

Basically us the entire month of March (image via StockCake).

All that being said, what we have read recently has been very good! Some classics, some new releases, and I’ve been included in a few publishing outreach programs and can’t wait to share their new releases with everyone this summer! Lots of exciting new reads coming our way, and in a weird worldwide time like this, it’s time to disassociate with books amiright?

Here’s a recap of what we read and enjoyed in March.

…Best of the Book Recs

From issue #76 “Introducing Patrick McGrath” is Martha Peake: Aging and injured Henry Peake, of the Hogarth, London wharves, commits an act of violence against his once-beloved daughter, Martha. She flees her home in London for the Massachusetts Bay Colony at the start of the American Revolution. Martha gets wrapped up in the dangers and uncertainty of the conflict in this riveting story of rebellion and belonging. (I have this one checked out from the library now!)

From issue #75 “The Books that Built Me” is a childhood favorite Goblins in the Castle by Bruce Coville is missing from the PDF checklist! My third-grade teacher, Mrs. Stone, read this book aloud to us chapter by chapter before recess. It follows William, an orphan at Toad-in-a-Cage Castle, who uncovers a man living in the dungeons who takes him on an epic journey. Every chapter ended in a major cliffhanger, delivered to audible groans from a room of eight-year-olds who suddenly wanted to skip recess for one more page…

…and an adulthood favorite; Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, a weird novel to read on-site at the juvenile prison where I completed my Bachelor’s internship for a social work degree. I didn’t know it would be weird when I started it, but this dystopian novel about young people with a deadly purpose showed me how magical realism could inspire literary, complex stories.

❤️‍🔥 Don’t forget to download the interactive PDF below to see the full list. Check off the ones you’ve read, and return to it if you read more!

Books That Built Me Checklist

567KB ∙ PDF file

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From issue #77 “Time for Nonfiction” is The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Wilkerson’s heavily awarded WARMTH tells the story of the six million Black Americans who left the South for the North from the First World War through 1970, as told through the experiences of three “unforgettable protagonists:”

“Ida Mae Gladney, a sharecropper’s wife…sharp and quick-tempered George Starling…and Robert Foster, a surgeon who left Louisiana in 1953 in hopes of making it in California.” A memorable story with powerful leads and a pocket of history many of us know few details about—this sounds like a perfect nonfiction book! (Fun fact: This book is such a doorstopper, but I was surprised to see how much space the Notes and references section took up. It’s not as long as it looks!)

…A moving documentary

Along with our favorite nonfiction picks in issue #77, we shared two new documentaries that we loved. Here’s one:

DAUGHTERS, directed by Angela Patton and Natalie Rae, follows four young girls as they prepare for a father-daughter dance with their incarcerated fathers. The dance is part of a unique prison program, which requires fathers and their families to attend parenting classes and support groups before the dance. Some of the girls know and miss their fathers desperately, some of them have never met before.

The film is incredibly emotional, but it’s also deeply informative. Did you know that most prisoner’s families in the United States are forced to pay for their phone calls and visitations with their incarcerated loved ones? The flaws of the prison system are compounded by the fact that many low-income families are unable to maintain visitation simply because they can’t afford it.

The film doesn’t go into much detail about the men’s crimes. This is an interesting and powerful decision by the filmmakers. I recommend watching the film first before Googling any follow-ups. I think it’s a powerful lesson that no matter someone’s worst actions, they’re still someone’s father and family member worthy of redemption and grace if we can give it. Stream it now on Netflix.

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